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Warren Shea

Archive for June, 2011

Zelda in 3D – How the 3DS works?

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 at 1:50 am

Wow. I did not think this would work.

To explain: Basically, the way the 3DS works is that you must be a certain distance away from the screen to see the 3D. Also, each of your eyes receive a different sensory input. You’re looking at the same screen, but it’s giving off different lights. Anyways, when you look at the screen, from afar, your eyes immediately go cross eyed to “match” the images. And thus, you get one of those 3D puzzles in which you cross your eyes to solve it.

The images above are an example of this. However, in the image above, you really have to cross your eyes a lot to see the 3D. Obviously your monitor, and my skill, prevent me from doing a better job. But if you cross your eyes on the image above, you should see the 3D.

I will get a better screenshot (or picture). This was just testing the theory out…and I’m a bit surprised, but it works. It’s the fundamental process that allows 3D.



I beat Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the 3DS today. I spent about 5 or 6 days playing the game, just like last time but my play time must have been a lot shorter. It was faster as in the sense that I wasn’t puzzled by the puzzled, the fights were easier, and I wasn’t going after all the Gold Skulltula tokens. I finished the game with 72, not bad w/o and guide. I don’t really think I wanna go back for them, not much point, despite being a completest. I’m more interested in Master Quest, but I promise to take my time with that. Need to focus back on real life again.

I leave you with an interesting read: Ocarina of Time 3D: Development Staff. It’s a 6 part story regarding the development of the game….as a developer, it was quite interesting…..tho I didn’t read it all…maybe tomorrow.

The tagline isn’t quite as captivating as Heroes.

Monday, June 27th, 2011 at 10:12 pm

Save the Princess. Save the World

Not quite as interesting as “Save the Cheerleader. Save the World”…as this tagline is quite standard a obvious. Anyways, this was one of those spontaneous thoughts that I sometimes get, combining unrelated things. Like

Choji VS Flatulence

I Pikachoose You!

Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS + Nintendo 3DS

Sunday, June 26th, 2011 at 1:27 am

I got my Nintendo 3DS earlier this week. I wasn’t sure if I’d use it much, if it was worth it but right now, I’m playing it like mad. I’m having a lot of fun re-playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time again. This time, I’m not using any guide at all and I’m basically just playing off of memory.

I’m playing things really differently this time around, I’m actually really pleased with what I’ve done.

I got my regular 3 spirit medallions as child Link, as usual. But as soon as I turned adult, I mixed it up a bit.

As an adult, the first thing I did was the Ice Temple. Why? No Boss…but really, I wanted a free Blue Flame.
The Blue Flame was to thaw out King Zora to get…Biggeron’s Sword. Yes, I got Biggeron’s sword before doing any adult dungeons. It made the Forest Temple, which I did after, very very easy.
I did the Water Temple next to get Longshot and also, to experience how improved the Water Temple is on the 3DS. Let me say, it’s improved SOOOOO much. The transition of boots to metal boots, and back is as simple as hitting a button twice. It’s so easy…it makes Water Temple pretty fun. :D
After that, I did Gerudo Fortress, freeing the 4 carpenters. But really, I wanted to see how the Horseback riding arrow game would be, with the improved bow and arrow usability. I got 1520 in the first game, 1430 the second, and 1510 the third. Basically, it was WAY easier than doing it on the Wii.

I’m at 43 Gold Skulltula tokens, without using any guide or going back to a dungeon I’d done already. I only want 50, for the heart piece. I’ll get all 100 eventually but I don’t really care right now.

Next, I guess I’ll finish Fire and Shadow and Spirit Temples. I don’t really care…I’ve done the fun stuff I wanted to do.

I really like the new Boss Modes that they have. One of my favorite fights was Phantom Ganon. Because of the way bow and arrow usability is, I stood in the center of the room in the game, and stood in place in my condo. I would personally rotate around, like Link, to fight Ganon as he came out of the paintings. It was really really cool. I love how the 3DS does shooting. It makes Shooting Gallery really easy too.

I was saying, I don’t need 100 Gold Skulltula anymore. I don’t need money. Basically, I found Skull Kid in the Lost Woods and he started attacking me. I took him out and got…a Huge Rupee, 200! He dies in 3 hits of Biggeron’s sword…and he respawns as soon as you leave the cube he’s in, you don’t even have to zone out of anything. So it’s a really easy, infinite way for money. You can get 600 in less than 2 minutes. Also, I like to kill him as much as possible for all the trouble he causes in Majora’s Mask….Yes, I find some karmic justice in it -_-;

Anyways, off to play more!

Accessibility – Development for the Visually Impaired

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 at 12:30 am

Well, this is new.

I’ve got an accessibility project (I’ve had for a month now) – making things (purposely being vague here) meet the WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0 Level AA Rating. What this means is basically making things fully accessible for the visually impaired; making text the necessary font size for a visually impaired person, making sure content is navigable (that’s a word!) via the keyboard, making sure all information is accessible in some way through the use of a screen reader and a keyboard.

I’ve got 3 people under me – originally I was just supposed to be project lead…but they actually refer to me as the boss -_-; It takes some getting used to. ….the poWER…THE POWER !!!! Seriously, they look to me for answers for everything. They go to me to make the tough calls. Honestly, I love it.

Recently, I think this has given me the opportunity to show one of my best strengths: the ability to understand things logically and rationally, with few pieces of information. Like putting a puzzle together. As I said today, I feel like…no, not Batman, but House. Well, and Batman. But House has a team….just like me ;) But basically, they’ll have an issue. They won’t know what to do. They talk and bicker amongst themselves and try to figure out the best plan of attack. But they can’t agree. They ask me for guidance. I don’t know what to do either, I hear their dilemma. But we talk about the problem for 10 minutes, and I’m able to figure out the best course of action, which they all agree with me. And I love it.

They tell me that when I meet with them, once a day or whatever, it clears things up. I really help give them direction. Not only is it nice to be able to help these 3, but it’s great to be able to figure out the best solution where they all agree or back me up. That my opinion, intelligence, and reasoning not only matters, but is crucial. It’s a great feeling to be able to think at level. And I’m finding that it’s coming more and more naturally to me.

It’s also allowing me to be more comfortable with my opinion and my skill. It’s allowing me the great opportunity to test my leadership. And while I’m reluctant to be a leader for social reasons, I think I’m a good one when I’m placed in the situation. I generally don’t hold or organize meetings but I have 3 this week in which I’m leading, organizing, etc. On Friday, I have to public speak for 12 people for about an hour. The best part about that is…I volunteered for it. I could have left it to my team but I wanted to challenge myself, and practice this. I think that generally, I’d be shy about it but I can’t wait this time. I’m really emerging as the leader I always knew I could be if I weren’t so socially retarded…

Ahhh….got sidetracked.

I actually wanted to write about Web Accessibility. As lead of this project, I’ve learned a lot about the technical aspect of it. Not as much as my team, but enough. And I plan to learn more for my upcoming presentation, this Friday morning. But while there are rules that need to be followed in coding, to meet the WCAG 2.0 Level AA Rating, what I’ve learned most is changing my way of thinking to accommodate the visually impaired.

They say that to become a strong developer, it’s important to know different coding languages. It’s become clear to me that it doesn’t mean that you should know ASP.NET VB and ASP.NET C#, or JavaScript and Java. It doesn’t mean that you should know languages that are fundamentally the same, but with different syntax. It means you should know different fundamental languages.
For example, C# and Ruby. JavaScript and jQuery. As I recently greatly improved in jQuery for warrenshea.com, I learned how to code differently from the standard JavaScript.

I also feel that to master Front-End HTML, you need to master making a website fully accessible. You can’t build a website that <insert x% of blind people in the world> can’t use. That’s not a good website. You need to consider how to make your website accessible to everyone. And it’s a different skill. Closing your eyes and listening to a screen-reader.
Understanding that:

  • visually impaired people start at the top left and have content read to them….and don’t want to hear the same navigation text every time they view a page (which is why we provide a “skip to navigation” ability).
  • Flash should be accessible via the keyboard. If you can’t click play, pause or stop, there should still be the ability to do so.
  • words like “click here” do not apply to the visually impaired (as they’re not clicking).
  • a visually impaired person should be warned that a popup window is opening, otherwise a visually impaired person may not be able to tell that there’s one.
  • the color of text on a background should have a certain contrast ratio to be viewable (4.5:1 for a level AA rating, 7:1 for a level AAA rating)

The point is that when you try to develop for different browsers and resolutions, it’s a means to make your site more accessible. But a lot of developers don’t realize the % of visually impaired people in the world. They should consider that developing for different devices, browsers, and resolutions is just as important as developing for the visually impaired. Sure, they’ll spend a lot of time making changes that are only on a text level, and won’t be visually different….which seems…I wouldn’t say pointless, but there’s not as much value in it for the time you spent. But know that not developing for that is actually discriminating against the visually impaired. And that’s what the real problem is.

Anyways, I’m thankful to have had this project. The work is tedious – though, I’m not doing it. But I’ve learned a lot. And not only have I learned a lot, I’ve learned a different way of thinking. And as far as projects go, I can think of no greater reward.

Because everything relates to Naruto

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 at 12:20 am

I’m on the couch talking to Z about how she only sings like, twice a year but is still really good…

I show her the tweet I just posted: Sucks that Z’s singing just dwarfs my own. She sings 5 times a year and sounds infinitely better than me. Talent > Practice + Passion :(

W: It’s not fair, Talent is better than Hard Work.
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W: *pouts* You’re Neji and I’m Rock Lee :(
Z: You love Rock Lee.
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Z: I don’t wanna be Neji.
W: You have hair like him!
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Z: ew. Can’t I be his cousin?
W: …..who’s that?
Z: Hinata!
W: Oh yeah…
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W: No, you’re Neji.

…maybe you had to be there…..